The mind is strong but the body is weak. A little less than three months ago, Gingersoul wrote an analogy of my love of running (sprinting really, endurance has never been a goal of mine) with that of a lion roaring. Both were effusive expressions of our joie de vivre.
Two hours after a rather energetic example of sprinting, I found myself unable to so much as jog. Speed walking was even uncomfortable. I wondered about the wisdom of ever running at top speed again. I am still exceptionally nervous about giving a run everything I've got, but I've had plenty of time to think about it and some time to heal.
Dr Mirkin gives a clue as to what may have been going on when I hurt myself three months ago:
When your heel hits the ground during running, your foot stops moving suddenly, forcing the upper femur bone to slide forward on the lower tibia bone at the knee. The anterior cruciate ligament prevents the femur from sliding too far forward and shearing off the cartilage in your knee. Once you tear your anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), even if it is successfully repaired, you have a weaker ACL that still lets the top femur slide forward on the tibia and shear off cartilage. So running causes you to lose cartilage until you lose it all, bone rubs against bone and you hurt 24 hours a day. The only treatment then is a knee replacement. So anyone who has broken cartilage or ACL in his or he knee should never run again for the rest of his or her life.
While I am confident I didn't tear the ACL, I may have strained it some. It's ability to restrain my femur may have been compromised so my caution with resuming my sprints may be well advised. The shearing of cartilage may well be what I did to myself to cause the clicking in my knees I noticed years back. Mirkin then goes on to recommend daily bicycling to strengthen the femur muscles which helps prevent the sliding that furthers the damage. So far, my actions do not suggest that I am taking that advice seriously.
Two months ago, as speed walking became comfortable the overpowering desire to sprint called for a compromise. As it wasn't quite running, but a restrained form of high speed motion, I called it the "rumble". The low growl lions make. I'd been doing this for the past two months increasing the lengths I would risk until I was rumbling down entire hallways. I was picking up speed too, with no pain to signal that it was a really bad idea. (This does not mean it ISN'T a bad idea.)
Two weeks ago, after extensive "rumbling", my feet left the tile floor and I dared an actual run for about 10 feet. Gingerly, tentatively, I waited the next few days to see if my knees would object to having returned to my roots.
Nothing.
.
Since then run up to twenty feet at a time. Twenty feet is not enough space to run at my top speed. I am quite afraid of trying that again.
Mirkin warns:
A torn anterior cruciate ligament or meniscus of the knee has a greater than 50 percent chance of causing permanent pain within five years, regardless of the treatment.
So stuck in a condition where my pain-free knees beckon me (dare me?) to run as fast as I can once more, I gain appreciation for those seniors who never run. They are afraid to run. They cannot allow themselves the pleasure, the euphoria, of releasing the strength in their bodies to their maximum. Muscles are happy to provide, but the rest of the body can't handle what they dish out.
So what to do?
Cushion the blow.
The shearing happens due to the sudden stop, I'm told. What if the foot slamming against the ground wasn't as sudden?
The speed with which one runs depends on that hard force that sheers cartilage and lays waste to knee joints.
So give up? That's not the answer either. From a previous essay you may recall the observation that kneecaps and, specifically, cartilage are not vascularized. That is, they don't have blood vessels. Cartilage gets layed down my cells with the cartilage cushion (the meniscus) and those cells get food and oxygen from the pumping of interstitial (between cells) fluid in and out of the cartilage by the pressure of the legs pounding on it from walking, jogging, running. Kick your feet up and the cartilage may heel even slower or atrophy (decay). I envision it like lungs breathing in-out-in-out. If you don't pound your meniscus every so often, it isn't BREATHING, and it will slowly die.
I think occasional stress is possibly beneficial to the knees for this reason, but all out sprints may cause more damage that the compression may be able to repair. (If I had access to an MRI, I could check from week to week what level of stress was best, but that luxury awaits some other future dyingman to experiment with when we have one in every local Walgreen's) I've never been a jogger and don't wish to start. Running is where the joy lies.
But is it the speed that gives me the high I love? Or is it the effort? Is it pushing myself to the maximum that I enjoy?
If so, I might get the rush I need even if I'm not quite rushing. While I may be sprinting no faster than a power walk, if my muscles are pushing as hard as they can, will I care?
Heres the plan.
I mean to find a softer surface: mattresses, rubber track, sand, shallow water... What happens if I run full tilt on one of these?
If the lion is weak, but the roar is loud... is there still joy?
Stay tuned.
* DM
Next: The leafy green pill.
Fitness Goals:
60 beats per minute resting pulse.
10 minutes hard cycling. (intensity 5 out of 10)
Weights: 3 days - 100 lbs. - 6 cycles of 5,5,5,10 repetitions (2 cycles/day)
Current Fitness Record: (since last entry)
3 x < 2 min cycling - average intensity 3.5 - 65 cycles (Pulse = 126 at last check 2-2008)
0 day - 65 lbs. - 0 cycles
Pulse: 66
Blood Pressure: 111/72 4/25/08
BMI 24
Workout Partner's Progress: Position Vacant
RECENT SYMPTOMS : None.
ONGOING SYMPTOMS: Clicking knees, Pain in right knee when kneeling and shifting knee to the right. Hyperhidrosis.
DIAGNOSIS: Unknown injury to right knee, possible impact from small stumble (c. 2006) onto landing of concrete stairs. Injured knee joints from sprinting (c. 2007)
DRUG REGIMEN: Aspartame. (3 diet sodas daily) Caffeine (three cups of coffee daily. One cola.)ONGOING TREATMENT: Tri-Annual dental visits.
PROGNOSIS FOR FOLLOWING WEEK: Slow improvement of knees. Good health.
POTENTIAL TREATMENTS: Fish Oil supplements. Leafy greens. Axillary vacuum curettage.
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